The Chase of Madness
by Kazzabelle
Summary: NEW CHAPTER: 12! Neo wakes sweating after terrible dreams of machinery, death & a woman named Trinity. Soon he forgets. But Trinity keeps returning, what happens? Was he really dreaming? Will he remember? The adventure is just beginning. Please review!
1. Prelude: Once Upon A Dream

PRELUDE  
  
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Lyrics from Sleeping Beauty; a verse of song to set the scene.  
  
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I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream  
  
I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam  
  
Yet I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem  
  
But if I know you, I know what you do  
  
You love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream   
  
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
I've had a few questions about this story, so I'll explain them here.   
  
In terms of his dreams, Neo dreamt of the incidents that occurred over all three movies. Now things are happening to him in his real life that he does not understand.  
  
I can't tell you anymore about my story, or else I will spoil it for you, but hopefully it is not too confusing. At the suggestion of a few readers, I have combined the first two chapters (I was all excited when writing it and got carried away) and extended a little bit with the third.  
  
All will be explained...eventually.  
  
And: please review. I have no life, which means receiving them is the highlight of my day. I love reviews. So review, review, review!  
  
Oh, yeah. And enjoy.   
  
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	2. Get to Work, Mr Anderson

CHAPTER ONE  
  
I awake, sweating deliriously, my throat parched, as though I haven't drunk any water for months. Shaking, I reach for the glass of water beside my bed, and almost cry aloud as I feel the cool, refreshing water gush down my throat.   
  
What just happened? I wonder, picturing it all again in my mind. The darkened capsules, the cold malevolence of steel, the glint of light reflecting from Morpheus's sunglasses, the pain of my first graze inflicted by Morpheus during training...all of it was so vivid! But it's not true. Is it? I still feel the ache. I still feel the shriek of terror rip through my mind. And I still feel the mind-blowing emotions I experienced when with Trinity. Trinity....  
  
I fall back against my pillows, sighing. I'm so happy it was only a dream, yet disappointed...if it was a dream, then why am I still so in love with Trinity? I experienced so much. I was born, I lived, I died and I experienced pain and grief like no other. I experienced Trinity's death, and that was the most mindblowing part...I feel tears prickling my eyes as I recall the mind-numbing, all-consuming ache I felt when watching her die. But what am I saying all this for? It was only a dream. It didn't happen! It's like The Wizard of Oz, I think dryly - I've returned from Munchkinland, except without my ruby slippers...I sigh. Trinity is my ruby slippers.   
  
I settle back to sleep, relieved yet wishing it were true. What do I do? What has happened to me? I really don't know....Lord, I am so tired....what...happened....  
  
***  
  
'What's the matter with you, Anderson?'  
  
I look up from my papers. I rub my eyes. 'Eh?'  
  
'I said, what's the matter with you?' He's getting angry now. My boss is relentless.  
  
'Oh.' I yawn. 'I had a rough night.'  
  
'Get out of the booze, boy, or don't come to my office. I have a business to run, not a frickin' rehab clinic.'  
  
'Hey.' A surge of anger rushes through me. 'I didn't drink at all last night, nor the night before. I was sick last night. I didn't sleep properly.'  
  
The thing is, I don't know why. I had all these terrible, dark, foreboding dreams, yet for the life of me I can't remember what they were about. Every time I think I've remembered, they trickle away again, like sand through my fingers, as cliched as that expression is. It's the only way to describe it. I slam my fist angrily on my desk. I am not having a good day.  
  
'Well, make sure you rest up tomorrow, then, Anderson,' my boss leers at me. His teeth are so dirtied around the edges, and I hate the way his lips curl as he speaks. His voice grates; it drawls, it's mechanical, it's just creepy. It vaguely reminds me of someone I've once met, but I bloody well can't remember who. 'You can have the day off. Now get back to work.'  
  
I sigh. I know I'm not going to be able to concentrate now. I gaze out the window, at the cloudless blue sky. I feel restless, like something is brewing nearby and I don't know what. Like something happened; like something is going to happen. A thousand different thoughts are tearing through my mind.  
  
'I'm going home now,' I say, gathering my papers. 'I'm not feeling well. My doctor said I might be getting the flu.'  
  
'All right, get going then.'  
  
I rush out of that building as quickly as possible. 


	3. When Madness Closes In

CHAPTER TWO  
  
I am walking down the footpath, towards the subway, and turn right to pick up a newspaper from the newsstand. The headlines call out at me; 'MAN SHOT IN DRUNKEN BRAWL' (typical), 'SENATE CONSIDERING HIGHER TAXES' (that'd be right) and 'ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOUND ON REMOTE ISLAND' (vaguely interesting). Something clicks in the corner of my mind, but I can't quite figure what it is. I keep on going, and then stop. I turn around.  
  
Nothing. I have the strangest feeling that I am being watched, that I am being followed. It's the most uncomfortable feeling. I feel hairs prickle on the back of my neck (again, a cliched expression, but it's the only way to describe it). I peer out of the corner of my eye, but I see nothing. Only the familiar rushing of people as they make their way to the markets, to the subway, to their homes. I sigh, and keep on walking.  
  
There it is again. That feeling. I stop, and look. I see a dark blur as a figure ducks behind a lamppost.  
  
'Who is that?' I call out. Nothing replies. Maybe I am just going crazy.  
  
Five minutes later, it happens again. This time, I've had enough. 'Bloody hell!'  
  
I step onto the subway platform. It is ten to one. The train is not there yet. It's due at 1:57. Six minutes. I stand there impatiently, tapping my foot on the stony ground. I feel so uneasy. I need a good long rest, I think.  
  
Suddenly, somebody taps me on the shoulder. I whirl around, and am face to face with a tall, extremely slim woman, aged in her early thirties. She has chin-length, rich brown hair, alluring blue eyes, and a severely square jawline. She is harsh-looking, yet beautiful. She has a no-nonsense look about her, yet I can almost see the beauty she would possess if she smiled.  
  
'Neo,' she says, simply.  
  
Startled, I back away. 'Who are you?' How does she know my name? My hacker name?   
  
Now I am just scared. Things are not right. I may have had distorted, emotions I cannot understand in the daytime, displaced dreams at night that I cannot remember, and fragmented sleep, but I can sense that something in the world is amiss. I remember things and yet I don't. I have seen things that I should not be seeing at all. I sense a tension, within me and around me. I want to understand but I can't. I am the spectator of a crazy, chaotic sport. I don't like these feelings that I am not in control. I want to return to the normalcy of my life before all these feelings began to emerge.  
  
She is clearly taken aback. 'You know me, Neo. You must.'  
  
I shake my head, not wanting to get too involved. Incidents like this happen all the time, only not to me. This is the brink of insanity, I can feel it. I don't want to get too close.  
  
'I don't know you,' I say, 'and you know me, but I don't know why.'  
  
She looks crestfallen. 'Neo, please remember.'  
  
'I don't. I'm sorry. You must be thinking of somebody else.' I stride toward the approaching train. 1:55. Two minutes early, but not a moment too soon. The doors pull open, and I hurriedly step on.  
  
'Neo, wait!'  
  
But I don't. I want nothing more to do with this madness.  
  
But madness doesn't like letting go. It has a way of catching up with you, you see. Or at least with me. I tend to attract it, wherever I go.  
  
When I arrived home, there she was, the strange woman, sitting on my doorstep.  
  
That's when I knew something was not right. 


	4. Please Remember

CHAPTER THREE  
  
The woman from the subway station is perched on my front stoop, almost defiantly. She wears a pure black overcoat, dark sunglasses, and gloves. It was a little strange, considering it's a rather hot day. But stranger is the fact that this woman is sitting there to begin with. Especially because she knows my hacker name. Nobody does. Nobody at all. I find it all quite terrifying. And overtly suspicious.  
  
'What are you doing here?' I say. 'And who are you?'  
  
The woman stands, confidently, pulling off her sunglasses. 'Can I come in?'  
  
I considered. 'Will you tell me who you are, and why the hell you're following me around the city?'  
  
The woman, too, considered. 'All right.'  
  
She followed me inside, and I sat at my table. I offer her a seat, but she refuses, preferring to stand. I shrug. Another tally on the insanity count, I think. And then I stop myself, as I wonder if this woman canread minds.  
  
'All right,' I said. 'Two questions: who are you, and why are you here?'  
  
She doesn't answer immediately, and this irritates me - I can't stand it when people stand there and think about their answer for so long that they end up forgetting the question. But she doesn't forget the question.  
  
'Neo,' she says, 'don't you remember me?'  
  
I clench my fists. 'You didn't answer my question.'  
  
'Let me say this first.'  
  
'All right. No, I don't remember you.'  
  
She looks saddened. Well, that's not quite the right word. She looks disappointed. Not wounded, not upset, just disappointed, and almost wistful. This is all too crazy for me. I wonder if I pinch myself, I'll wake up? That could work. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz...except she doesn't pinch herself, does she? I almost laugh at the absurdity of it. Here I am, thinking about The Wizard of Oz, of all movies. And then that thought triggers something else in my mind. Ruby slippers, ruby slippers...what is going on in my head?  
  
The woman stares at me, deep into my eyes. I feel my stomach lurch crazily. The more I look at her, the more beautiful this woman becomes. I wonder who she is (if she ever tells me at all!) I just want to know the answer to this puzzle, and then return to the normalcy of everyday life.  
  
'It's me, Neo,' she says, retaining the gaze. 'Trinity.'  
  
My first impulse is to laugh aloud and then shoo her out of the house. Trinity? What kind of a name is that? It's so calculated and...silly. But then...Trinity. TRINITY. The name rings a bell. Somewhere, in the deepest crevice of my mind, I know that I have heard that name before. Or perhaps my subconscious is playing tricks on me. Either way, this is all creepy, and I want no more of it.  
  
'No,' I said. 'I don't know.'  
  
'You had some dreams, didn't you?'  
  
Now I am just terrified. How does she know this?  
  
'Listen!' I say angrily. 'I don't know who you are, or why you're here, but I want you to leave my house! Right now!' When she doesn't move, I add, 'Or I'll call the police.'  
  
'Goddamnit, Neo, just remember, PLEASE!'  
  
'I mean it. I will call the police.'  
  
She looks angry, and hurt, and I see fury blazing in her eyes, until she pulls her sunglasses back on. It seems as though she is biting back a repimand.  
  
'All right, Neo,' she says, finally, quite calmly. 'I understand. But please - try and remember. Try and remember everything.'  
  
And she walks out of the house, closing the door gently behind her, and leaves me standing there, perplexed, irritated and trying to understand the craziness the world has begun to offer me. 


	5. Getting Physical

CHAPTER FOUR  
  
I do not see Trinity for another two weeks.  
  
Surprisingly enough, even to myself, I do try and remember whatever it is I am supposed to remember. But I do not understand any of this, and so when I concentrate too hard, I find my head beginning to hurt. In the end, I give up and lie down. But when I lie down, I always find myself sleeping. And when I sleep, I see clouded images blurring over and over in my mind, ones that I cannot acknowledge or comprehend. I know that I see them; only, when I wake up, I cannot remember anything about them, and so end up even more frustrated than I was in the beginning.  
  
I find it hard to sleep in the night and imperative to sleep in the day. My boss has been furious with me on several occasions, and I was close to losing my job. There are days that I wonder why exactly I am working for him. The cycle of depression, the safety of 'the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.' Some days I just sit at my desk and stare out at the city beyond me, wondering if there is anything more to life than all of this. And then this pondering spawns further thoughts, about this woman Trinity and about all the things she said to me that afternoon. Perhaps all this is not so insane as I thought. Or perhaps it is. Perhaps I am just out of mind. I do not know. I just wish I understood.  
  
The newspapers keep bleating about Artificial Intelligence, and it begins to capture my interest. I begin purchasing a newspaper, every day, from the main at the corner of the subway. Today he smiles at me, winks, and pulls out a cigarette every time, offering one to me. I've given up the habit long ago and so decline, but thank him anyway. His teeth are yellowed and his skin sallow and tired, but I can tell he is a true soul. I feel as though I know him from somewhere else, and this constant sense of de ja vu is putting me at unease. I think I'll go and lie down.  
  
But just as I unbolt my apartment door, and lurch towards my bedroom, I notice a strange scent in the house. Not dangerous. Just odd. I yank open my bedroom door. Sure enough, Trinity is there, perched on the end of my bed.  
  
I bite my tongue, hard, to stop myself from hurling obscenities at this woman. Why can't she just leave me alone? Everytime my mind plays havoc with me, she's there to disrupt what could be the beginning of rational reasoning!  
  
'What the hell are you doing here?' I ask angrily, leaning against the doorframe in what I hope is an intimidating manner. However, it is more the other way around - Trinity looks like somebody who could do some serious damage with little effort.  
  
'Neo, there's no time for bullshitting,' she said to me.  
  
'Excuse me?' This woman definitely knows how to rile me up. No wonder I'm a ball of walking stress lately. People like this should belong in a mental ward. 'What the hell are you talking about?'  
  
'Neo, I told you to remember and you didn't. There's gonna be trouble soon.'  
  
'Get out of my house,' I say. 'I will call the police this time.'  
  
'Call them if you have to. They stand no chance against me.' What an ego. (Though it's probably true, I rationalise).  
  
'Oh, won't they?'  
  
'No. I don't have time for bullshit. And, quite frankly, you're creating a lot of it.'  
  
That was it. That was the last straw. How dare this woman, this freak, just waltz into my life and accuse me of being a bullshit artist, just because I won't play the game her way? I don't even know what bloody game she's playing, let alone HOW to play it! I reach over and grab her firmly by the wrists, and drag her over to the door, prepared to push her out of it. At least, that's what I planned to do. Before I had a chance to exert my strength, she'd sent me flying over to the other side of the room. I landed with a deafening thud against the opposite bedroom wall.  
  
'Bitch,' I mutter, glaring up at her with bitterness. I wipe away the blood now pouring from my nose with my sleeve. I rarely call women bitches, but this is one occasion that definitely warrants it. I feel pain sear through the back of my head and the discomfort of blood dripping down my chin.  
  
'Goddamnit, Neo,' she says, her eyes going quite flinty as she looks down, as though breathing deeply and riling herself up for conflict at the same time. 'I try to warn you, but you don't want to listen. You're so different. Can't you see?'  
  
'It's a little difficult,' I retort, 'because I think you may have given me concussion.'  
  
Trinity manages a little smile, and pulls a phone from the folds of her long overcoat. 'Wait a second,' she says, and then, to the person on the other end of the line, 'I'm almost there.' Pause. 'No, not yet. But I haven't given up.' Pause. 'Yes. Harder than I thought. It will be okay, though. He'll remember soon.' Pause. 'I didn't think I should. It's not the right time. He's finding it hard to believe.' Pause. 'All right, Morpheus. If you say so.' She hangs up, and returns the phone to its place. 'I have some things to tell you.'  
  
Morpheus...Morpheus...the name is again familiar. Who are all these people that are invading my life? It's so frustrating being the centre of a parallel universe and not knowing or understanding a thing about it!  
  
'First,' she says, 'get out of your job.'  
  
'Excuse me?'  
  
'I mean it,' she barrels on. 'Your boss is working against you. He's trying to kill you.'  
  
I am stunned. It never took a lot of effort to convince me that my boss was an arsehole, but I wasn't expecting this. And, despite my confusion and frustration, I find myself believing her all at once.  
  
'Okay,' I say. 'I'll quit tomorrow.'  
  
'Good. He's monitoring everything you do. I can't tell you why or how, just yet, but just know that he is.'  
  
'All right.'  
  
'As for these dreams of yours...'  
  
'Yes?'  
  
'Well, I -'  
  
The sound of splintering glass cut Trinity off. Shards of glass littered my and Trinity's bodies as we shrieked and hurled ourselves away from the site. My bedroom window now lay, shattered, all over my carpet.  
  
'Wonderful,' I said. 'I'm having such a great day. I find out my boss is trying to kill me and now I have to pay for insurance to cover a broken window.' I glare out of the empty hole now in place of my window. 'Arsehole,' I mutter, in the general direction of the attacker, wherever he was.  
  
'Come on,' Trinity says, 'we have to go somewhere else. Now.'  
  
She grabs my wrist and, before I can react, she runs, pulling me along behind her. 


	6. When You Don't Believe

CHAPTER FIVE  
  
I've never seen a woman run as fast as Trinity does. Nor have I ever seen a woman look the way Trinity does when she's running. Her body is so slim, so nimble, so quick, that it almost seems like a graceful ballet rather than a full-speed escape. I know that I did not expect any of this to begin to happen to me when I woke up that morning three weeks earlier. I am still trying to absorb my surroundings when Trinity pulls me into a secluded alleyway, and yanks me behind a huge holding bin, where we crouch down. I pant and puff in agony from lack of exercise, but she doesn't seem to have any lasting ailments. Not fair! I think to myself. A woman is more buff than I am.   
  
Even though she is not puffing or panting, I can hear her heart racing, and I can feel it pounding, as the upper quarter of my arm rests against her chest. There is little room to move into an alternative position. I feel uncomfortable, tired and quite dirty. The stench of days and days of discarded rubbish and food is making my head spin. Urrghh. I wish I were at home, curled in front of the television, eating Chinese takeaway and planning my next hack. Not this. This is all too difficult to adjust to, let alone respond to.  
  
Trinity whispers breathlessly, and almost inaudibly. 'Don't move an inch,' she says, and I barely see her mouth move. 'Don't make a sound. There are people coming. People we don't want to see.'  
  
'Who?' I mutter, attempting to be as quiet as she is, but she pokes me sharply in the ribs. I find myself shutting up. This woman knows how to seriously butt-kick, I think to myself. It's becoming almost endearing.  
  
Trinity suddenly shrinks herself back against the brick wall, and so I do the same, not really sure why, but assuming I might not be around to consider the possibilities if I don't. She holds her breath. I do the same. Every move she makes, every breath she takes, is carefully and artlessly planned; and I follow wordlessly, unquestioning, knowing that she knows what she is doing, and knowing that this is enough.  
  
Footsteps pass us; Trinity relaxes, lowers her sunglasses slightly, and focuses on a point in the distance I can't distinguish.  
  
'It's all right now,' she says. 'We can talk.'  
  
I sit, confused, and a strange emotion bubbling somewhere in stomach. I'm not entirely sure what it is, so I try to push it down. The corner of my mind, too, begins to spark something. Something is the right word – things are beginning to click, but in all the wrong places. All the patchy images are jumbled. I just need time to piece them together.  
  
'Neo,' she says, 'your dreams.'  
  
'What about them?'  
  
'Well, they were real.'  
  
I'm confused, and a little shocked. 'Excuse me?'  
  
'I said, that your dreams were real. Everything you saw, everything you experienced, actually happened.'  
  
'No, they didn't,' I say, shaking my head. 'Not that I remember them. But dreams don't come true.'  
  
Trinity pulled off her sunglasses. 'Then how do you care to explain all the strange things that have been happening to you, Neo? How do you explain all these feelings you've been having? How do you explain your boss, the newspaper man, the smashed window – and how do you explain me?'  
  
'I don't,' I say, honestly. 'I try not to explain any of it. Because if I tried, it would mean that I'm letting insanity into my life.'  
  
'It's not insanity, Neo. It is the truth.'  
  
'But how can it be the truth if I don't even remember the dream, let alone whatever else it is I'm supposed to remember?'  
  
'Because you have to have faith.'  
  
'That doesn't answer my question.'  
  
'It does,' Trinity says. 'If you believe that it is the truth, if you have faith that I am telling you the truth, then you won't suffer any more denial.'  
  
'Trinity,' I say. 'I don't know what all this is about, but can you please tell me, so I can go back home and forget about it, and get on with my life?'  
  
She sighs, and pulls out her mobile phone. 'Neo, when you hear about this, you won't ever have a normal life. It's just the way it is. It's the way it has to be.'  
  
'Then I choose it not to be,' I say, and while I am defiant and determined not to waver, in terms of my confrontational tactics, I find myself mellowing. I am unsure of whether it is the effect this woman has on me, as a female, or as a person, or whether tiredness is beginning to set in. Whatever it is, I'm not enjoying this lessening of authority. My life is my life, after all. If I choose to live a normal life, then I damn well will.  
  
'Suit yourself, Neo,' she says. 'But this won't be the last you see of me. And it will only make things harder if you leave now without accepting the truth.'  
  
'You haven't told me the truth yet, so how can I accept it?'  
  
'Because you don't believe, Neo. You don't believe in anything except that which you know.' 


	7. Finding the Ruby Slippers

CHAPTER SEVEN  
  
I quit my job the following day.  
  
My boss isn't too thrilled, but at the same time he in't particularly saddened, either. He leans back in his tall-backed executive chair and surveys me with both scrutiny and disdain. 'Anderson,' he says, slowly and deliberately, his top lip curling again (creepy), 'I hope you know what you're doing.'  
  
'So do I,' I say, except I find it difficult to be civil while I know that this man is trying to kill me. 'But I have to move on. I've been offered a new job elsewhere. New places, new faces.'  
  
'Oh,' he says, with amusement. 'Where?'  
  
'Um…' I rack my brains for a response. 'Why?'  
  
'Well, I thought I could put in a good word for you, Mr Anderson.'  
  
'Oh.' I pull together a string of nonsense words in my head. 'Midtown Electrical.'  
  
'Oh, I see. Moving onto bigger and better things, are we?' He is mocking me, I am sure. Just because I work in a game-designing firm…I bristle with anger as I shake my head.  
  
'No sir, just new experiences.'  
  
'Well,' he says, 'enjoy your…new life.' He lets out a derisive chuckle.  
  
***  
  
Trinity is sitting at my kitchen table when I arrive home.  
  
'How the hell did you get in here, anyway?'  
  
Wordlessly, she holds up a key.  
  
I sigh defeatedly. 'Do you want a drink?'  
  
'No thankyou,' she says. 'I've come here to tell you that your boss is watching you even more closely than before. Be careful.'  
  
'Hey, I just quit my job,' I protest.  
  
'I know,' she says, 'that's why I'm here.'  
  
'I see.' Except I don't. I sit in a chair opposite her. 'Are you going to tell me anything today or what?'  
  
I see the makings of a slight smile on her face. 'Perhaps.'  
  
'Well, I have all night. Or all year, if you want.'  
  
She is not amused. 'This is serious business.'  
  
'Oh, I know it is,' I answer. I don't know what kind of mood I'm in, but whatever it is, I'm actually being kind of nice to this woman. 'So. Who are you?'  
  
'I'm Trinity.'  
  
'Yeah, well,' I say, 'I think we've established that.'  
  
She sighs. 'Neo,' her voice softens. 'Can't you…remember…'  
  
'No, I can't.'  
  
'Come on. Please. Try.' She's pleading, but she's not taking crap. That's what I like about her, I find myself admitting. 'You have to. It's the only way. I can't tell you anything. You have to do it for yourself.'  
  
'All right,' I say, leaning back in my chair and closing my eyes. I genuinely attempt to remember. I bring myself back to that morning, when I woke up…I can't remember anything except the vague thought of ruby slippers (not that I have any idea where that came from – unless I fell asleep one night watching the Wizard of Oz). All the images from that morning are cloudy and patchy. I can't see anything, but I feel the confusion I felt at the time.  
  
'Do you remember?' I hear Trinity's voice.  
  
I sigh. 'No.'  
  
'Try harder.'  
  
'I can't. I just don't remember.'  
  
'Then remember this.' I hear the scraping of her chair on the slate floor, the clicking of her footsteps, and then I feel her warm breath close to my face. I tremble slightly, tingles running over my skin. Moments later, I feel the touch of her lips on mine. They are gentle, soft, and not at all hard or cold like I imagined them to be. Not that I ever imagined them...Soon, she kisses me harder and harder, stronger and stronger, until I find myself returning it in spite of myself. I part her lips gently with mine, and somehow my tongue works its way in. My eyes still closed, I reach out and wrap my arms around her shoulders. She pulls me up. And we are standing there, arms now around each other, bodies pressed up close, lips touching and probing and searching for something that neither of us can find.  
  
And suddenly I remember. Like that. Everything. With a rushing sense of abandonment and confusion, I remember Morpheus and the pills. I remember Cypher and Dozer and the hovercraft. I remember my battle with Agent Smith (oh my God – my boss's name is Eric Smith! – and he wants to kill me!), meeting the Oracle…and then, falling in love with Trinity, kissing her, making love to her, holding her tightly when there was nowhere else to go, nowhere else to be except wrapped up in her love…and then I remember her impaled, lifeless body as I cried…  
  
I pull away, shaking, taking quick, shallow breaths. I stare at Trinity, and all I see is memory. Memory I don't want to confront. Experiences and pain I don't want to remember.  
  
And I run. 


	8. Opening or Closing the Door?

CHAPTER EIGHT  
  
'Shit, Link, get me a trace on him,' I hear her say as I bolt out the door, terrified tears streaming down my face, panting for breath. Still I run, despite the fact that my level of unfitness has reached its peak. I hear her cursing behind me as her feet pound the pavement. Soon I feel her, hear her, catching up to me. It is no use. It's Trinity, after all. Trinity. The woman with matrix-induced superpowers. The woman with unquenchable ferocity and determination. The woman who I loved, and still love.  
  
I think it's these feelings that are driving me away. I don't know why. Wait, yes I do. I don't want to be hurt again. I don't want to suffer the pain of seeing her leave this world in such agony. I don't want to suffer, myself, as I watch the woman I love have life slowly leaked from her tired body. I don't want to see the things that became the essence of my nightmares for so long. I don't want to remember, because to remember would mean accepting the fact that the cloistered world I have lived in my whole life is a lie.  
  
'Neo.' She is only about a metre behind me. 'Neo. Please. Stop.'  
  
I try to ignore her, but it is difficult. A part of me wants to stop, turn around, grab her and kiss her. The other part, the terrified part, wants to keep on running and hope that it all goes away. I feel like I've open the door to my worst nightmares and now I can't shut it again. I've let all this horrible stuff into my life and now I can't escape it.  
  
'You've got to stop. I need to talk to you. Now. We haven't got much time.'  
  
Startlingly, I find myself halting to a stop. I feel my legs begin to give way, and it is all I can do to hold myself up. I heave violently, my chest feeling like it's going to explode. But I do not turn around. Turning around would be giving in. And giving in would be suicide.  
  
'Neo,' she says, 'you know you have to give in.'  
  
'No.'  
  
'You have done great things,' she says. 'We have witnessed miracles. We saw the matrix fall. We saw your abilities. We saw that you are somebody special. Somebody worth pursuing. Somebody worth knowing.' She pauses, and I can hear her swallowing. 'Somebody worth being a saviour.'  
  
A lone tear trickles down my cheek. It's so uncharacteristic of me, and I'm embarrassed. I'm Neo, the hacker. Strong, brave Neo who doesn't need anything or anyone. I can't let anybody see me cry. I wipe it away as quickly as it has appeared.  
  
'Neo, there is nothing wrong with crying.'  
  
'How did you know?'  
  
'Because I know you.'  
  
'But I don't know you,' I say. 'We're a thousand worlds apart.'  
  
'No, we're not,' she replies. 'We belong to the same one. You're just accustomed to an alien world.'  
  
I hang my head. 'Trinity,' I say slowly, carefully, 'why are you here again? You died. You died on the hovercraft. I cried over you.'  
  
'I can't be the one to explain all this to you,' she says. 'Neo, you have to make the decision. Will you join us again, or will you continue living in this world that is a lie?'  
  
'And see what I saw last time? No thanks.' I turned around to face her. 'I can't do it again, Trin. I can't.' I am shocked to find myself calling her by her nickname. My nickname. The one that meant I was the one. And not for the world. The one for Trinity. The only one.  
  
Trinity takes off her sunglasses, and takes a step closer to me. 'It wouldn't be the same,' she says. 'It would all be different.'  
  
'Why?'  
  
'I still can't tell you. Just make your decision. We need you, Neo, more than anything else in the world.' She stops, and bites her lip in a moment of vulnerability and weakness. 'I need you.'  
  
I look into her eyes. I see my past, my present and my future. I want to be by her side always, but not with the matrix. On the other hand, I don't know whether I'll ever see her again if I don't go. And fighting the matrix gave me a warped sense of purpose, despite the heartache we all endured. I could remain living my cloistered, fictitious life, but now that I have remembered I don't think I could ever live denying the truth.  
  
It is with a mixture of horror, relief and chilling fear that I find myself responding in a way I did not expect.  
  
Still looking into her eyes, I reach out and clasp her hand in mine, still feeling worlds apart, yet so close, so very close.  
  
'Okay.' 


	9. The Yellow Pill

CHAPTER NINE  
  
The bullets fly by the dozen as we tear through the streets. She is ahead of me, clutching my wrist. I find myself travelling at her speed, and the strange thing is, I feel no strain or physical exertion. We almost glide as we run. She dodges a bullet that whistles past her ear. We do not know where they are coming from. Wait a minute. There's a man, high up in the apartments above us, overlooking the alleyway through which we are speeding. I can see him now. He stands in the window, clutching a hand pistol, shooting violently at us as we thunder along the road. I stare up at him, confused, trying to recognise him. He is fading into the distance now, and from what I can tell, he has run out of bullets.  
  
Now he is clambering out of the window, shinnying down the ladders. I can see his face more clearly now. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, I recognise him. It is Mr Smith, Eric Smith, my boss. The one who Trinity claims is trying to kill me. And I realise for the second time. It is Agent Smith. I remember him clearly now. He is identical. Only this time, he is not wearing a suit. He is wearing an old polo shirt and faded jeans. And sunglasses. He seems to go nowhere without his dark shades.  
  
Funnily enough, I am not afraid. With Trinity leading the way, I am not scared. I don't fancy the idea of Smith catching up to us, but I know that if he does, we can kick his arse. At least, I hope so. I know Trinity has that capability. But do I? Do I still have those phenomenal, out-of-this-world abilities that set me apart from all the rest, that almost guaranteed my success in any fight I got myself into? I don't want to even consider the possibility that I don't.   
  
Suddenly, without warning, Trinity whirls me around and hurls me behind a large dumpster. She spins, whips out a handgun from the folds of her jacket, and fires a simultaneous parade of bullets. They surge towards our pursuer, our attacker. He comes closer, avoiding the bullets. But then one hits him in the chest. Another gets his stomach, and then his shoulder as he crumples to the ground, blood gushing from his body alarmingly fast. I sit there, watching all this with a mixture of horror, astonishment and pleasure. It is always a pleasure to see the enemy, the evil one, perish at the hand of the good guy (or any guy, for that matter). But it always horrible to watch anybody die. To watch such a quantity of blood escape that one body. Trinity yanks me up again, and she slips away her gun, while pulling out her phone. She punches in a number, and it amazes me she can do this and still hold my wrist, and still run so swiftly.  
  
'Link, get me back in there,' she says, and I hear a muffled voice on the other end, though I cannot make out what they are saying. 'Smith is dead.' Pause. 'I shot him.' Pause. Pause. 'In alleyway 596a.' Pause. 'Good idea. You do that.' Another pause. 'Just get us back in, goddamnit. Someone's on our trail. Not just Smith.'  
  
She flips the cover of the phone back on, shoves it in her coat, and continues running. She does not speak to me. She runs into an old, derelict building several alleyways later. She slams the door shut behind us, and bars it with several heavy wooden planks.  
  
'We're getting out of the matrix in a few minutes,' she said, 'but first, we need to get you out.'  
  
She takes a bottle of pills from the folds of her cloak, and hands me one. It is yellow.  
  
'But it's not red,' I said. 'Or blue.'  
  
'Does it have to be?'  
  
'No, I suppose not.' I swallow it whole, and feel my stomach squirm uncomfortably. 'Well?'  
  
'You won't notice anything,' she says, 'or at least not until Link gets us outta here.' She sighs. 'Someone's following us, but I don't know who. It's a good thing I killed Smith. He's one of the central problems in all of this. If only we could nab the rest of the agents…' Her voice trails off, and then she sighs. 'It would make our job so much easier. Just find a way to get to the source, and eliminate the matrix. Easy. But not with this mob of arseholes running around.'  
  
'When can you tell me about all this? I still don't understand.'  
  
'You still remember, don't you?'  
  
'Yes, but…'  
  
'Well, then, that's all you need to know.'  
  
'But you said…'  
  
'For now, at least.' She stops. 'In the meantime…'  
  
She takes a step towards me, and I take a step towards her. I remember so much now. How much I missed her when we were apart. The heart-wrenching anguish I felt when I watched her die. The happiness I felt when we first kissed, when we held each other tight and tried to hug the pain away….  
  
We wrap our arms around each other. Nobody does it first. It is a mutual thing. We hold each other so tightly, and then our lips find its partner, and we don't let go. We kiss and kiss until I feel my lips begin to bruise. My eyes are closed and I am drinking in the moment. Drinking in Trinity. She's all I want. All I ever want. I can't believe it has taken me this long to remember, to realise how much I love her and how much I need her.   
  
We continue kissing, occasionally surfacing for breath.  
  
'I missed you,' Trinity says, smiling, her eyes still closed.  
  
'And I missed you,' I reply.  
  
At that moment, her phone rings. We pull away, eyeing one another.  
  
She pulls it from the folds of her cloak. 'Hello?' Pause. 'It is?'  
  
She grabs my arm tightly. 'Okay. We're ready.'  
  
I feel a wrenching sensation in my stomach and then, the next moment, I find myself inside the metallic world that I knew for so long.  
  
'Welcome back, Neo,' says Trinity. 


	10. Everything Changes

CHAPTER TEN  
  
Everything is the same. Yet at the same time, it's not. I recognise this place, for it formed the foundation of my nightmares for so long. I recognise the people, and yet I don't. There are noticeable differences between my fragmented memories and between the truth, between the reality. I turn to Trinity, afraid. I wonder if I have made the right decision by choosing to join the war once again. I don't know if I have the emotional or physical capacity for such a strenuous situation. A lump swells in my throat, and I wish I were back at home. Back safe, in my bed, where no scary bogey-men can get me. Where nothing can enter the safety bubble I have formed around me. But this is the point of no turning back. I know it. Trinity knows it. And she knows that I know it.  
  
'You remember, don't you?' she asks me.  
  
I nod, not trusting myself to speak. 'Yeah.' Unfortunately, I do, I silently add.  
  
'Neo, my man!' Link throws himself at me, and I am stunned. No, bewildered. That's the word I am looking for. 'Good to see you. We thought we'd never be seeing you again. Trinity thought she'd lost you.'  
  
Trinity smiled slightly and pulled off her sunglasses. I feel my knees go weak as I contemplate what is happening. All these people. I love them, they are like my extended family. Yet they are the omens of impending doom! I don't know if I have the stamina to handle this. 'Come this way,' she said quietly, taking my arm. 'You'll have to speak with Morpheus.'  
  
I still don't understand all this. One moment we were standing in that ramshackle building – the next, we were standing in the Nebuchadnezzar. Obviously Link brought us back, and I assume that the yellow pill was related to my arrival and my unplugging from the matrix. Even so, I find it hard to believe. It all happened so fast, so regimented, that I'd scarcely had time to absorb my surroundings, and my own feelings.  
  
'Where is he?' I ask, as she guides me through the ship. There are noticeable differences in the layout of the ship, and I find it difficult to determine where we are going. The only recognisable portion was the central meeting point at which Trinity and I had arrived. The turns and corners and weavings and even the interiors are completely different than the Nebuchadnezzar I once knew.  
  
'It's all so different from what I remember,' I say aloud, and Trinity makes a vague sound indicating her agreement, before pulling me into a small room offset from the corridor that led off the main one.  
  
'Here he is,' she says. 'Morpheus?'  
  
The large armchair situated in the corner of the room spins around at that moment, and I see Morpheus' satisfied, smiling face staring back at me. He is cool, calm and collected. But there is one noticeable different that startles me. While his facial features are exactly the same as before, he is Asian. Clearly not black. It startles me. Not that I have anything against Asians, of course. But it was rather a shock seeing Morpheus in this context. Quite unlike the Morpheus I remember.  
  
'Hello, Neo,' he says to me, and I jump. His voice is slightly different, too…deeper, more pronounced, as though his voice has broken a little. I don't understand why everything is so different! It worries me and confuses me. I want to know the answer, yet nobody seems keen to offer it to me. Trinity has not yet revealed anything. And knowing Morpheus, he will prolong the agony long enough for me to become a blithering idiot.  
  
Oh, shut up, Neo, I think to myself. You're just scared. Afraid. Of the matrix, and the ordeal you have and will experience. Be strong. Be a man. 'Morpheus,' I say, swallowing.  
  
Trinity speaks. Not to me, but to Morpheus. 'I shot him, Morpheus.'  
  
'Good work, Trinity. But I'll have Link run through the codes to be certain. I have no doubt there will be more agent activity lurking in the background. Somewhere.' He sighs. 'We will tackle these problems one at a time, however. For now,' he says, turning to me, smiling, 'we will tackle this one.'  
  
'Am I a problem?'  
  
'No, of course not,' Morpheus explained. 'Allow me to rephrase that. We will tackle this issue, of debriefing the current situation to you, and offering you an explanation for all the questions that have been left unanswered.' He turns to Trinity again. 'No doubt you would like to speak to Neo privately, later,' he says to her, 'but for now, at least, may I have a private word?'  
  
Trinity nodded swiftly and ducked out of the room, leaving me alone, and a little nervous.  
  
'So,' Morpheus says, smiling and leaning back in his chair. 'I understand you've had a rather hectic three weeks.'  
  
I nod. I don't trust myself to speak.  
  
'How are you feeling, Neo? Are you coping? No doubt it's a bit of a shock.'  
  
'Well, yes,' I admit. 'I don't understand all of this. I remember, of course, but why am I back here?'  
  
'Now, that is a difficult question for me to answer. Tomorrow, you and I will pay a visit to an old friend. Neo, do you know who I am talking about?'  
  
I think for a few moments. 'Er…the Oracle?'  
  
Morpheus winks. 'Right first time. I promise that tomorrow, you will have the answers you are looking for.'  
  
'Okay.' I am not convinced. I am continually being told to wait. Wait and find out, wait to be told, wait to talk, wait to understand. But will all this waiting ever led to an answer?  
  
'In the meantime, Neo, I'd like you to have a good rest. We have no emergencies on hand at this moment. Settle in, spend a little time with Trinity if you like, or alone. Later, I'll re-introduce you to the rest of the crew. And then, tomorrow, we will plug in again, and visit the Oracle.'  
  
'Okay,' I say again.  
  
Morpheus eases himself from his chair. 'Neo, I want you to know that I believe in you. And I believe you have made the right decision. We all have utmost faith in you.'  
  
'Thankyou, sir,' I say, a little hoarsely. I leave the room, feeling bewildered. I follow my way through the corridors, and somehow reach Trinity's room through a combination of trial and error, and memory recall.  
  
Trinity is sitting, cross-legged, on her bed. She is now wearing her all-too-familiar gull-grey, torn jumper. I only realise at that moment that she, along with all the other crew members I happened to see, has been wearing it since the moment we entered the Nebuchadnezzar. I look down at my own body. So have I, I note.  
  
'You okay?' she asks me.  
  
I sit down beside her. 'Yeah.' Truthfully, I feel completely and utterly lost.  
  
She manages a small smile. 'Get some rest,' she says.  
  
'I don't understand any of this. I'm suddenly picking up something that happened but didn't, as far as I can tell. And with you, I am picking up emotions I felt and lost and found again.'  
  
Trinity stood. 'I know.' She paused. 'Come with me. I'll show you something.'  
  
She extends her hand, I take it, and follow her. 


	11. Plugging In

CHAPTER ELEVEN  
  
Trinity leads me into the area of the Neb containing the mainframe, along with the plugging stations.  
  
'Lie down there,' she orders, indicating one of the stations. Silently, I obey and settle myself in.  
  
'Relax,' she says, as she shoves the plug into the back of my head. I wince as I feel myself being transported through time, through space, through void, and then, suddenly, plummet to a new place. The matrix. I am plugged into the matrix. And I am scared beyond shitlessness.  
  
I am standing in the centre of a dark room. The only light I can see is the faint glimmer of a candle, somewhere in the far corner. I shiver, perhaps not because of the icy draft whispering through the air, but because of a combination of my fear and my anger at my lack of courage. I am a grown man. I can deal with the bogey-man. Or can I? I don't know if I want to find out.  
  
My knees start to quiver as I note Trinity's continued absence. Where is she? I panic, a sweat breaking out over my forehead. Please let her come, please let her be here…I shudder involuntarily. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am petrified of being left alone. Left alone to the mercy of myself and to the mercy of whatever danger lurks around me.   
  
I am about to sit down, when I hear something behind me. Whirling around, I find myself face-to-face with Trinity, the contours of her face highlighted and outlined by the light of the candle, still flickering in the corner. In this light, she looks both radiant and more beautiful than I have ever seen her before. My breath catches as I look at her. I still feel incredulous. She is mine. She is mine.  
  
'Sorry about that,' she says, dusting off her pants, though they are spotless. 'I had to get Link come in and plug me in. It took awhile. He was busy talking to Niobe about something.' She smiles at me. 'Come on,' she says. 'Let's go.' She takes my hand, and runs – no, glides – off towards the door. Hesitantly I follow.  
  
She runs like both a graceful ballerina, arching and gliding delicately through the air, and like a gazelle, swift and steady. On the other hand, I am clumsy, unfit and relatively unco-ordinated. I lumber behind her like a wounded gazelle. Still, I don't mind. At that moment, the adrenaline rushing of running the way we are is leaving me on a momentary high.  
  
She sharply turns a corner. We keep going, wordlessly, running along the street, towards a destination I have no clue of. It seems like we are running for hours, but for all I know, it might only be minutes.  
  
Finally we reach the seashore. We stop. I pant a little; Trinity does not. Trinity makes a funny little noise, and suddenly I feel myself being transported again. Moments later, we are both standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea. It is nighttime. The sky is velvety blue, dotted with tiny stars. The universe is an inky wash of mauves and blues. My breath catches again. It is so beautiful. It is difficult to imagine that there is a greater evil lurking within and beyond this world.   
  
Trinity sits down, cross-legged, on the edge of the cliff. There is no danger. The cliff is secure, and we are at least a metre from its edge. She hugs her knees to her chest. 'I come here when I want to think and be alone,' she says, gazing out at the expanse beyond us. Below, I can hear the rhythmic crashing of the waves. 'It takes me away from everything.' She pauses. 'I come here when I want to think of you.' She turns to me. 'Don't you think it's beautiful?'  
  
I nod, joining her on the ground. 'It is,' I agree.  
  
She reaches out and takes my hand. 'I wish,' she says, 'for something better than all this.'  
  
I don't reply.  
  
'I found it, though,' she goes on. 'In you. That's where I found the truth. That's where I found me. Where I found happiness.'  
  
I dip my head slightly. I feel suddenly cold. 'How can you have so much faith in one person?' I ask.  
  
'When you love them, you can have and do anything.'  
  
I feel tears prickle at the back of my eyes. 'Trinity, I'm scared.'  
  
She turns to me and squeezes my hand tightly. 'Don't be scared,' she says. 'I'm always here for you. No matter what.'  
  
'But I'm scared…of you…of losing you, like last time.'  
  
'But Neo, everybody loses the people they love at some time or another.'  
  
A tear trickles down my cheek. 'I remember so much. I don't want to lose you. And I don't want you to have faith in me. Because I am scared of letting myself down.' I swallow, wiping my tear away. 'I'm scared of letting you down.'  
  
'If I fell from this cliff at this moment, I would know that you would be there to save me.'  
  
'Please don't test that.'  
  
'I won't. But if I did…'  
  
'Don't talk about it, please.'  
  
'I didn't come here to talk about misery, Neo. I came here to show you the beauty that is around us…and the beauty I have found in you. The beauty you have shown me, all those times we've been together. The beauty I feel when I look at you, when you touch me, when I think about how much I love you.'  
  
She is so flowery and poetic. She's either feeling sentimental tonight, or has changed since I last knew her. Both seemed strong possibilities. Whatever it is, I don't care. I just want to hold her. And so I do.  
  
She kisses me soon.  
  
Later, she says, 'Neo, if I fell…'  
  
'I'd catch you.' I don't need to hope anymore, or believe, or doubt. I know.  
  
When we return to the Neb, we are holding hands. I retreat to my room, where she says goodnight. I tell her I need sleep, and time to think. She accepts it, and closes the door behind her.  
  
I lie, face-up, on my bed, staring at the ceiling.  
  
Now I feel I am ready. Something happened to me, something emotionally, something that made me realise that I am prepared to take on my role, my duty, as the One once again. I am ready to accept whatever the future has in store for me – again. 


	12. Have a Cookie

----------------  
  
A/N For the purpose of my fan fiction, I am modifying the ending of Revolutions slightly. Spoilers entail, and it would be best not to read on if you haven't seen it yet.  
  
Instead of the matrix just letting there be peace, as the Source bargained with Neo before he died, I have changed the story slightly so that the matrix was actually destroyed by Neo. I offer no explanation as to why or how. Just accept it.  
  
-----------------  
  
CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
'Neo?' a voice breaks my sleep. 'Wake up.' I feel somebody shaking me. Grumbling, I rub my eyes blearily. It must be my mother. Damn that woman, always taking my spare key and letting herself in whenever she pleases. Then suddenly I spring fully awake, and see Morpheus' smiling face only a foot or so away from mine. I jump. And then remember. I won't be seeing my mother again for a very long time.  
  
'We've got to go, Neo,' Morpheus said. 'The Oracle's a busy woman and she won't wait long.'  
  
'I never thought she was busy,' Neo said.  
  
'Perhaps when you last knew her, she wasn't,' he said, 'but she has lots of people to see, and lots of things to do. That's just the way it is.' He passed a bundle of clothes over to Neo, who was still rubbing his eyes, trying to stop the aching pain extending through them and throughout his whole face. 'You'll be wanting these. We've got five minutes. Link wants to see us down at the plugging stations by then.'  
  
I nod. Morpheus leaves. And Trinity enters.  
  
'Hi,' she says, sitting down carefully on the edge of my bed. 'How are you feeling?'  
  
'A little sleepy,' I admit, 'and my eyes really hurt, but other than that, not too bad.' I smile. 'Seeing you makes me feel a whole lot better.' I clasp her hand, for a moment, in mind. She smiles slightly. She, too, looks incredibly tired. Pale and drawn, bags etched under the eyes and shadowed by dark, cloudy charcoal.  
  
'Do you want me to go with you?' she asks me, after I pull my jumper on over my bare chest and, efficiently under the covers, my trousers over my boxer shorts.  
  
'Yeah.' I say, without hesitation, 'that'd be nice.'  
  
'Okay. I will then.' She leans down and drops a quick kiss on my cheek. 'I'll go tell Morpheus.'  
  
'I'm ready now,' I say, 'unless they want my bed made.'  
  
I don't think it was funny, but Trinity hoots with laughter – she laughs so hard she has tears cascading down her cheeks. 'Oh, God,' she grins, shaking her head, 'that was so funny.'  
  
'If you say so,' I say. 'I was -'  
  
'Neo!' a voice calls from outside the room. 'Are you ready, my man?' I grin, realising it's Link. I swing myself out of bed, where I stumble a little and Trinity catches me. We both hurry out of the room, down towards the plugging stations, where Morpheus is already settled in his station.  
  
'Nice of you to join us,' he comments. 'And you too, Trinity. Get in, then.'  
  
So we do, and my stomach turns a little at the thought of being transported again. The sensation of having a needle-shaped plug shoved in the back of one's head is never particularly pleasant.  
  
'Now, things may of course be a little different to what you remember, Neo,' Morpheus says, 'but I trust that you'll accept the changes as they are, and wait for the explanation.' It is not a question, it is a statement – an order. I nod. I look at Trinity on the station beside me. She extends her arm and clasps my hand in hers for a brief moment. Then Link, unexpectedly, plugs me in. My body jolts from the shock, and then I find myself once again being transported through a surreal void before instantly appearing in the middle of a busy Manhattan street.  
  
'We're back,' Trinity says, a moment later, when she appears alongside me. 'Now, where's Morpheus? He should be here any minute.' She looked at her watch. 'By my calculations, he should have arrived eight seconds ago.'  
  
'Is that bad?'  
  
'Not really. It might just mean there's a delay in the mainframe,' she says.  
  
'Oh, that's all right then.'  
  
'I mean, it could mean something worse – but it's unlikely.'  
  
We wait another two minutes. There is still no sign of Morpheus. I begin to grow nervous. 'Do you think he accidentally got transported to a different place?'  
  
'Could have,' Trinity replies, 'but it's unlikely. Link's an expert. He knows what he's doing. In the meantime,' she says, 'I'll take you to the Oracle. Link will have a sensory device to know where to send him when we're done. Either way, he'll have to find us at some point.'  
  
'Trin, are you sure that's a good idea?'  
  
'Morpheus told you. The Oracle is a busy woman. She doesn't have time for us to waltz in an hour later and just sit down to have a chat and a cup of tea.'  
  
I sigh. 'All right.' I am still worried about Morpheus, though, but I try and let my fears subside. After all, fear gets you nowhere. I have definitely learned that much.  
  
We walk the two blocks to the Oracle's apartment. We both must look so strange, so detached from the rest of this world. We are misfits. We are both dressed in our familiar black outfits. I feel so out of place. I haven't been in this role for so long – Neo, the saviour of the world.  
  
Trinity rings the doorbell. Almost instantly, the door is flung open.  
  
'Trinity! And Neo!' The Oracle proclaims, half-shadowed by the darkness. 'How nice to see you. Come on in. I'm baking biscuits at the moment.' I look at Trinity, as if to say, 'I thought you said she was busy.' Trinity shrugged, and follow the Oracle inside. In turn, I follow them both.  
  
We are now standing in the middle of her living room, and I gasp when I see her face. She is nothing at all like the Oracle I once knew, or the Oracle I remember. This one is not only about fifty years younger, looking like she is about twenty, but she has long blonde hair and deep, dazzling blue eyes. I can't quite associate the character I knew with the appearance standing before me. I raise my eyebrows at Trinity, but her gaze remains fixed ahead.  
  
'I know my appearance must come as a shock to you,' the Oracle said to me. 'Sit down, please.' Her behaviour, however, is still like that of a seventy-year-old. It puzzles me to no end. Either I'm going mad, or the world around me is going mad. I finally decide that it must be a combination of both. 'Now,' she says. 'How can I help you?'  
  
'Well, Neo wants to know some answers,' Trinity says.  
  
'Ah, yes,' the Oracle grins. 'The proverbial curious cat. I see.' She extends a plate of biscuits. 'Biscuit?'  
  
I shake my head. 'No, thanks. I'd just like to know what the hell is going on.'  
  
'Well,' the Oracle says, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back in her seat. 'There's no easy way to tell you this, Neo, but everything that you dreamed that night, actually happened.'  
  
'Don't worry, I've figured that out already.'  
  
'Of course you have. But you still don't believe it. Oh, you remember parts of it. Like de ja vu, even though that could be considered a glitch in the matrix itself. You remember Trinity and your emotions, and you remember the Nebuchadnezzar and Morpheus and me.' She smiles and sighs. 'But you still don't believe it, because there are things you don't want to believe.'  
  
I decide it is best not to argue.   
  
'So,' she says, 'as you are undoubtedly aware, things have been changing around here.'  
  
'Yes,' I say. Where is all this leading? Will she ever tell me.  
  
'Now, I think it best to begin with what you once knew. You fought with the Nebuchadnezzar crew to defeat the matrix, and ultimately to kill the machines. But you did not succeed. Trinity died near the Source, and you died after your strength exploded the carbon copy of Agent Smith he'd made of you.'  
  
'Yes.'  
  
'And then you awoke, from a terrible, terrible dream. Sweating and crying and shaking. You began seeing strange things during the day. Your boss was becoming a little frightening. You continually saw Trinity, and she was very elusive. You did not understand.'  
  
'I know all this,' I say.  
  
'Of course you do,' she says. 'But I'm gonna say it anyway. All this leads to one inevitable point. The cycle has begun again. Yet it doesn't seem to fit, does it? No, you don't seem to understand.  
  
'When you awoke that morning, a lapse of one hundred and seventy eight years had passed since you died within the Source.'  
  
I am dumbfounded. The Oracle would not have shocked me more had she picked me up and thrown me out the window.  
  
'How?'  
  
'Oh, don't ask how,' she says. 'Strange things happen when people are the One, after all. Basically, everything that happened to you happened one hundred and seventy eight years ago, though it seems like only a month ago. That's the power of the matrix and its effect on people.'  
  
Trinity interjects. 'I found out earlier than you did,' she says. 'I spent a year or so before you woke up that morning, hacking the matrix and joining the crew and trying to kill the agents.'  
  
'But if the matrix ended, then how were you there to hack it?'  
  
'I always said that the matrix would be born, live and die – and do it over again,' the Oracle intervenes. 'And that's what it did this time. It took one hundred and fifty years before the first inklings of artificial intelligence became true. Only three years later, the matrix was created by a mob of angry machines. And thus, there was a matrix to battle for and against once more.'  
  
'But I read a newspaper article…'  
  
'Oh, that was just rubbish. Human rubbish. The matrix was controlling somebody; a man was becoming too knowledgeable about it all, and they killed him. Then they decided to claim that artificial intelligence had just been discovered, to throw people off track.'  
  
'Okay,' I say. 'So I wake up after one hundred and seventy eight years, even though it seems like a day. Then what's with everything else?'  
  
'Aha. Now you've reached an interesting point. Neo, can you expect everything to remain the same as it always was, forever?'  
  
'No,' I say.  
  
'Exactly. You've answered your own question. When things change, as they do and as they did this time around in the matrix, you see things that shock you. Surprise you. Confuse you. Which is what happened to you. People, while essentially the same in person, are often completely different on the outside.'  
  
'Why?'  
  
'Why? Neo, I'm not a scientist. Go ask a genetic biologist. All I can say is that it happens, that it did happen, and you can either choose to disbelieve it or accept it.' She pauses. 'In the long run, it'll be easier for everybody concerned if you just accept it for what it is.'  
  
'So that's why Morpheus is Asian,' I say, half to myself and half to everybody else, 'and why you're like that, and why people are different…'  
  
Something is bothering me at the back of my mind, but I can't quite place the thought.  
  
'Anyway,' the Oracle says, 'you two must be off now. I have things to do. Goodbye, Neo,' she says, 'take care. And you, too, Trinity.'  
  
And we leave. We are standing on the Oracle's doorstep. Confused, and rather disoriented. I feel dizzy.  
  
Then Trinity's phone rings. She pulls it from her coat, and glances at the screen. 'It's Link,' she says, answering it. She pales, and grits her teeth. 'Shit. Shit. SHIT.'  
  
'What?' I ask.  
  
'Shit,' is all the response I receive. 


End file.
